FlipStart handtop now shipping; Sprint EV-DO Rev. A available

It's been in the oven for almost four years now, but Paul Allen and team Vulcan have finally deemed the Flipstart handtop / UMPC well-done and ready to serve. You should already know most of the specs from our several posts about the device (not counting the older ones where we mock it as vaporware) -- 1.1GHz Pentium M ULV CPU, 512MB DDR RAM (just enough to run Vista!), 5.6-inch SVGA screen, three wireless radios -- but what's been kept under wraps until now is that the starting-at-$2,000 machine rocks EV-DO Rev A courtesy of Sprint for getting your mobile broadband on. Now this sub-sub-notebook is certainly not for everyone -- not to mention the fact that it faces stiff competition from OQO, Sony, and Samsung, among others -- but if you have a few extra bucks laying around, there are worse things you could do with your money than pick up this gadget lover's dream.

[Thanks, Thomas L.]

[Brandon @ Apr 2nd 2007 6:07PM]

doesnt look to mobile to me

[anonymouspimp @ Apr 2nd 2007 6:11PM]

That thing looks ridiculous.

[Chris @ Apr 2nd 2007 7:05PM]

It's like a laptop, but for mice. Mice with enormous laps and titanium-coated hip bones.

[Hitchcock @ Apr 2nd 2007 7:18PM]

It looks like one of those P-Touch label machines. Its scary to think that 10 years ago I was selling the Toshiba Liberetto which was the same damn thing, only with better design.

[S @ Apr 2nd 2007 7:29PM]

I hate to say this, as a gadget lover myself. I have owned the sony vz90, first oled screen pda on the market. I had a dell axim x50 and x51, and I've used treos since the 600 series first came out. I also had a sony ux280p. All of those devices were at least slightly stylish, even if only total nerds would carry them around all the time. But this ungodly abominatinable creature, well....it should go back into the swamp from hence it came!

[Firebird @ Apr 2nd 2007 8:10PM]

too thick and expensive. nuff said.

[What? @ Apr 3rd 2007 3:21AM]

whats with the terrible setting of this photo, someone take a picture of this thing at grandmas house?

[Shank @ Apr 3rd 2007 4:55AM]

what doesn't look mobile about it? Have you seen ANY other pictures? (they are all over the web, and this thing is about as small as a romance novel).

Crap, I consider my 17" laptop "mobile", and the FlipStart is about 1/4 the size, with 3 times the battery life... AND an included RevA mobile broadband. Seriously, what is wrong with giving credit where credit is due, and allowing people to form intelligent opinions about a product without bashing it?

[ScooterDe @ Apr 3rd 2007 5:23AM]

@Shank, here's an intelligent comment: it looks crap.
The proportions are wrong, including the price. Nuff said.

[Shank @ Apr 3rd 2007 11:12AM]

@ScooterDe

"It looks crap."? Exactly how is THAT intelligent?

As for proportions, that particular picture looks to have a high(er) capacity battery mounted on it... whereas some pictures out on the net depict a MUCH shorter battery.

I do most certainly agree with you about the price. I think it should be priced around $1450 or so. Perhaps if this company plops another product on the market, it will address the shortcomings of the current model.

[What? @ Apr 3rd 2007 7:17PM]

@Shank hope the following is intelligent enough for you

have you seen the OQO? that is the right way to build an ultra portable, it has a form factor that works for an ultra portable size, you can hold it with two hands and type with your thumbs. then slide it close and slip it into a large pocket or bag. The Sony and Samsung have similar designs for their ultra portables.

the problem with this thing is that it wasnt well thought out. Its your basic laptop design scaled down to a smaller size. Its unimaginative and the basic lap top design doesn't work well as an ultra portable. You cant type on that the same way you would on a lap top because the keys are smaller and that extra girth it has doesn't allow you hold it and use your thumbs to type. also the track pad is way up at the top, why is it there?

Finally, it looks dated, the design looks like something fisher price would have made in the mid 90s and called it My First Laptop.

If I am going to pay $2,000 for an ultra portable I want it to look damn sexy too

[Spidubic @ Apr 4th 2007 12:09AM]

First impression.....I don't like the look of it. Too chunky.

[Wilson @ Apr 5th 2007 10:48PM]

donno why, but this reminds me of pacman

[GR @ Apr 9th 2007 5:21PM]

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[Handtop PCs @ Apr 11th 2007 10:01AM]

I love this form factor but the specs on this handtop is are a little bit outdated. Though I have to say would work perfectly when I go to the data center. It's much more handy then carrying around a laptop from rack to rack.

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